Asanteman Senior High School chalks 60
The Asanteman Senior High School in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region celebrated its 60th anniversary on Saturday, November 29, with pomp and circumstance. The event was on the theme: “Asanteman @60: The Role of Stakeholders in Ensuring Infrastructure Development For Academic Excellence”.
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Background
The school was the fourth secondary school to be established in Kumasi, and this was through the initiative of an association known as the Asante Youth Association, comprising young energetic, bold, and visionary men, who at one of its meetings at K/O Methodist School in Kumasi, in 1952, recognised the importance of secondary school education. That initiative led to the establishment of Asante Youth Association Day Secondary, now known as, Asanteman Senior High School, in 1954.
Teaching and learning
More than two-thirds of the teachers in the school hold Master’s degrees as well as professional certificates from recognised institutions from Ghana and abroad, and have demonstrated a high sense of responsibility, selflessness, and dedication, over the years.
Departmental heads have also been resourced and empowered to monitor and supervise the teachers and also ensure that students are encouraged to learn on their own and to be time-conscious through the institution of early morning preps between the hours of 5.45 a.m. and 6.45 a.m. on weekdays.
Admittedly, these have culminated in high academic performance and the school recorded 100 per cent pass in most of the subjects in the 2012, 2013 and 2014 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The Headmaster of the School, Mr Yaw Adu-Gyamfi Sarpong, was happy with the school’s academic success over the years and promised to implement pragmatic strategies, policies and programmes to improve on its enviable records.
Gratitude to PTA and philanthropists
He expressed his gratitude to the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for providing the institution with a 3-storey boys’ dormitory block, another 4-storey boys’ dormitory now christened “Golden Tulip” by the students; renovating and extending the school’s dining hall, and providing the school with a mechanised borehole. Presently, the PTA is constructing a multi-purpose dining hall for the school to decongest the existing one.
The school, through its internally generated funds (IGF), has undertaken several projects, which include the establishment of a sachet water manufacturing company, which has suspended operations temporarily; built a 3-storey store with a bookshop and a bungalow to accommodate one headmistress, undertaken constructional works on the last floor of the girls’ dormitory and also extended power to the same floor.
Mr Adu-Gyamfi expressed gratitude to the Odotobiri Rural Bank, Professor Quarm Publications, KAPAP Publications, Approachers Series, Latex Foam, Ministry of Science and Environment and parents, for supporting the school.
Challenges
Some of the challenges confronting the school are the need for additional infrastructural facilities especially, the completion of the 21-unit classroom block which has been abandoned since 2009, a sports field, an administration block befitting the status of a 60-year-old school, a new Information Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory to cater for the large student population and equipment for the new science laboratory to facilitate practical teaching and learning of science, as well as the renovation of the dilapidated library block.
The school also needs additional staff bungalows, a sickbay, and a stand-by generating plant to address the frequent power outages that affects academic work.
